Posts Tagged ‘ finance ’

Seven Top Tips for Managing Your Day-to-Day Finances

22/03/2012
By
manage your finance

Managing your finances can be a challenging task, particularly if you are living on a limited budget. It may seem as though you have already spent each paycheck before you even receive it. Fortunately, there are seven simple strategies you can use to more effectively manage your finances and avoid the stress of financial emergencies. 1) Forecast Income and Expenses at the Beginning of Each Month Documenting income and expenses may seem like a common sense way to manage finances, but relatively few consumers take the time to complete this task each month. Forecasting your bills, discretionary expenses, and earnings at the beginning of each month will give you a clear picture of where your money will go. Use a spreadsheet to document household income, including dates when you or your spouse will receive paychecks. Income documentation should also include money derived from sources other than a job, such...

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Financial Tips for Nannies and Other Self-Employed Workers

20/03/2012
By
coins

Nannying is a rewarding and fulfilling career for many kid-loving people with nurturing personalities, but the job can be more complicated than that of an aid at a school or day-care facility. Most nannies are independent contractors; they pay their own taxes, purchase their own health care benefits, and manage their working lives as business owners, unlike regular employees. If you feel called to become a nanny, here are a few factors you should consider and prepare for. Taxes If you have ever worked at a regular job, you know that income and Social Security taxes are taken out of your check before you even see it. When you work as an independent contractor, you are responsible for paying your own income taxes and the full amount of your Social Security tax, including the portaion an employer would pay. The IRS will likely require you to make quarterly payments...

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Is Extreme Couponing For Real?

19/03/2012
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Couponing For Real

The TLC show Extreme Couponing is back on the air this week, and while it’s great to bring attention to helping people save money particularly in this economy – it’s not right to give them unrealistic expectations. The show depicts people who are getting tons of merchandise for free. But really, who needs 25 bottles of mustard at a time? If you read any of the established couponing blogs that are out there, you’ll find many of them say that this idea of extreme couponing isn’t the best way to go about saving your family money. It’s true that using coupons will produce savings, but who has 60+ hours a week to spend searching for, clipping and organizing coupons? It’s also unrealistic to expect that using coupons will always lead to free stuff. This just isn’t true, despite what you see portrayed on Extreme Couponing. Most coupon users pay for...

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The History of the Stock Exchange

12/03/2012
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stock market

Today the stock market is an integral part of our economy, and it is hard to imagine a time when it didn’t exist. That time was over 300 years ago. But, towards the end of the 17th century, when trading started in Jonathan’s Coffee House, situated near the Exchange Alley in the city of London, things began to change. In 1698 businessman and coffee drinker John Castaing issued a document called The Course of the Exchange and other things‘ which was essentially a list of goods which could be bought or sold. Of course, people have always traded goods for thousands of years but this is first official record we have of any sort of organised and premeditated buying and selling. The word spread fast and soon people were flocking to Jonathan’s Coffee House to do business. This carried on for a few years until men were regularly being...

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Will Our Economy Recover?

10/03/2012
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Economy Recover

Although positive news about the economy is beginning to become more prevalent, many people feel that the United States economy remains mired in the doldrums. Government debt continues to expand, housing values continue dropping, energy prices remain volatile and people are waiting for the proverbial next shoe to drop. There are three fundamental problems facing the US economy: business-unfriendly government policy, tepid job creation and a weak US dollar. All of these problems are interrelated and can be solved by the economic growth which the US economy is poised to experience thanks to two recent trends: new energy production in the Marcellus Shale and Bakken Formation and ongoing wage increases in China. Business-Unfriendly Government Policy Current government policy is business unfriendly in two ways. The first problem is the rapidly expanding government debt and the lack of serious plans to meaningfully address it. Not only does the high level...

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Debt Collectors Use Social Media

06/03/2012
By
debt_collectors_social_media

In today’s world, debt collection companies are riding a thin line between legitimate collection practices and predatory collection techniques. Social media has become the newest way for debt collection companies to locate and communicate with consumers. This new phenomenon has left many industry insiders unclear as to the legality of the practices. Invading people’s privacy is a very sensitive issue that could result in legal consequences from the company in question. This information reaching the public may result in a change in the way social sites and collection companies operate. What They Can Do Some debt collection agencies have sunk to the point of making fake profiles and becoming friends with people with the goal of retaining their information the whole time. People’s profiles who are public may risk their information being found out by clandestine collection agents posing as followers. A few states have enacted laws against online...

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What Does Obama’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Mean For You?

13/02/2012
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student loans

Last fall when President Obama announced his plan to ease student loan burdens, it meant that student borrowers who have made their monthly student loan payments for a period of at least 20 years after leaving college may be eligible to have the remaining balance forgiven – and for those who have worked for at least ten years in public service positions, their loans may be forgiven once they reach their ten year anniversary of public service employment. In addition, due to the fact that recent grads are not making the kind of money that was available to them several years ago, Obama’ program also calls for the capping of monthly student loan payments at ten percent of a student borrower’ take home pay. For those who are members of the military, there is also some good news. Anyone who works for any of the five branches of the...

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How to Keep Money in Your Pocket

19/12/2011
By
Save Money

The economy is forcing people to pay more attention to spending. Deciding if an item is a need or a want is hard, but necessary. Nobody likes to have to choose between paying a bill or buying a collectible, it’s just a sign of the times, so to speak. Follow these plans to keep the most money you can in your pocket! 1. Plan Your Day Taking a few minutes to plan a shopping trip can save money on gas. Decide what stores you really need to visit. If you have another appointment in the same town, try to schedule them the same day. Plan out your route to limit the amount of traveling between points. 2. Check Ads Coupons are a major craze today. Clippers accumulate dozens of the small slips of paper each week. While it seems 50 cents off a loaf of bread seems hardly worth...

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How Much You Should Be Saving for Retirement

15/12/2011
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Retirement

While many pension experts will give you ‘rules of thumb’ to save for retirement, the truth is that the kind of pension pot you will need is completely dependent upon your individual circumstances. Planning There are, however, some basic steps that you can take to start planning how much you should be saving. The most important step in planning how much to save is to calculate how much you will need in income when you retire. You should keep careful track of your expenditures over a few months time if you do not already do so, and review your outgoings. Consider the expenses that will remain the same when you retire as well as the expenses that will have changed. For example, when you retire you may have paid off your mortgage, but may have extra expenses for travel or healthcare. Then consider the income that you will have...

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Got No Credit? Want To Build Some?

13/12/2011
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No Credit

Building up your credit can take time – but what if you have no credit to begin with? How do you build credit when you are just starting out? If you are just beginning, you’ve probably run into the problem of being denied credit because you have no credit. How are you supposed to build credit if no one will give you a chance? It’s an age-old problem. The key is to start small, remain consistent and over time, you can develop a financial profile that will make it easy to obtain credit. For those looking to establish credit, one of the easiest ways is to obtain a secured credit card. A secured card is one that you by depositing a certain amount of money. You are then allowed to use the card up to that amount. In other words, if you get this type of card and deposit...

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